Abstract

We report a new method for the real-time quantitative analysis of sodium in human sweat,
consolidating sweat collection and analysis in a single, integrated, wearable platform. This temporal
data opens up new possibilities in the study of human physiology, broadly applicable from assessing
high performance athletes to monitoring Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferers. Our compact Sodium Sensor
Belt (SSB) consists of a sodium selective Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) integrated into a platform that
can be interfaced with the human body during exercise. No skin cleaning regime or sweat storage
technology is required as the sweat is continually wicked from the skin to a sensing surface and from
there to a storage area via a fabric pump. Our results suggest that after an initial equilibration period,
a steady-state sodium plateau concentration was reached. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) was
used as a reference method, and this has confirmed the accuracy of the new continuous monitoring
approach. The steady-state concentrations observed were found to fall within ranges previously found
in the literature, which further validates the approach. Daily calibration repeatability (n 1⁄4 4) was
+/- 3.0% RSD and over a three month period reproducibility was +/- 12.1% RSD (n 1⁄4 56). As a further
application, we attempted to monitor the sweat of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) sufferers using the same device.
We observed high sodium concentrations symptomatic of CF ($60 mM Na+) for two CF patients, with
no conclusive results for the remaining patients due to their limited exercising capability, and high
viscosity/low volume of sweat produced.